This is a FAQ for Mojib Ribbon, ver. 0.3
By Mark Green
Email address for submissions/updates:
mark [at] antelope [dot] nildram [dot] co [dot] uk
The latest version of this FAQ will always be available from
http://www.cheatcc.com.
-----------
wwwwwwwwwww If the block of characters on the left has a straight
mmmmmmmmmmm right-hand edge, you are using a monospaced font.
iiiiiiiiiii This FAQ looks far better viewed in a monospaced font.
OoOoOoOoOoO Use EDIT, DOS TYPE, the Netscape text viewer, or MORE
12345678901 to view this file.
-----------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
**************************** LEGAL BITS ******************************
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Neither the author of this FAQ, nor any person who distributes it in
any way, shall be responsible or liable for anything that results from
using this FAQ for any purpose, including but not limited to
damage to your Playstation 2, hands, eyes, controllers, or reading
ability.
This FAQ may be freely distributed provided that it is kept unmodified
and in its entirity. This FAQ may not be sold, or included as part
of a publication that is sold (including a website to which a
subscription is charged), without the author's express permission.
Mojib Ribbon, Playstation 2, and all the characters therein, are (c)
and (tm) Sony Computer Entertainment and NanaOnSha 2003. The use of
any trademarks within this FAQ is not intended to be a challenge to
their validity.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1 - INTRODUCTION
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Mojib Ribbon is the Playstation 2 sequel to Vib Ribbon, NanaOnSha's
surreal music game. While Vib Ribbon had a vector-like display, Mojib
Ribbon's theme is Japanese calligraphy, and this means that the graphics
have a brush-stroked appearence. Unfortunately, it also means that the
Japanese level in the game is intense. The FAQ aims initially to sort
that out and later to offer more tips.
A brief note: you CANNOT use your own CD's in Mojib Ribbon. However,
you can create your own texts for stages.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2 - MENUS AND INTERFACE
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The important thing to bear in mind about the menus in Mojib Ribbon is that
very often the rightmost option is in fact the menu title, and won't be
selectable. Now, the actual menus, all from right to left:
Opening menu: (this is the only one that doesn't have a title)
Start game
How to play
Start game menu:
TITLE
(names of any players you've created)
New player
Rename player
After choosing player name:
TITLE (player name)
Play
Options
Options menu
TITLE
Custom Words (available after completing stage 6)
Last Score
Ranking
??
Analogue Stick
Vibration
System Save
System Load
Network
After choosing play:
TITLE
Stage select (press up and down, circle to select)
After selecting a stage:
TITLE
Text selection
[At the start there will be only one of these - the story mode text.
After you have unlocked the editor, the editing option will appear
to the left of the story mode text, and any new texts you've created
will appear to the left of those.]
If you choose an editable text:
TITLE
Play text as it is [not selectable if you chose the editing option]
Edit text
??
Note editor [only appears once unlocked by finishing stage 18]
After selecting a text:
Play stage
Autoplay (only after completing a stage; costs points from your Ranking)
When starting, you must first choose New Player to create your initial
player account. To enter text, use the right analogue stick to choose a
gyou (or 'consonant sound'), hold down R1, use the left analogue to
choose a dan (or 'vowel sound') and then hit L1 to lock in the selected
symbol. Press X to delete a character and START to end the name entry.
WHen entering your name for the first time, you'll also be asked to place
beat marks in it; move the cursor and place them using the circle and X
keys. Your name will be included in the texts in the game, and will have
start mark(s) at the point where you placed them.
Later in the game, you'll be asked to use the "Yomikata editor". To do
this, enter a phrase in the normal way. You can then hit the L2 key to
copy it directly to Yomikata (the easiest way) OR hit the R2 key to choose
from several possible kanji versions of the phrase you typed. Pressing
SELECT will show the final kana version of the kanji you wrote. If you
don't know Japanese
and are just typing random symbols, just use L2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
3 - HOW TO PLAY
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Mojibri (or whichever character you play - the rules are the same for all
of them) will be shown walking along a circular path. The path is made
up of clouds, circular symbols, and a triangle symbol at the end. The
clouds indicate areas where Mojibri must fill in characters; the circular
symbols indicate points where he must start writing, and the triangle
(actually a shogi piece) indicates the end of the whole sentence.
To write the sentence, you must push UP on the analogue stick just before
Mojibri's pen reaches each symbol (to wet the pen with ink), then push
down on the analogue stick as Mojibri's pen actually reaches the symbol,
and then hold it until the end of that section (which will either be another
circular symbol, the triangle symbol, or a gap in the clouds). f the end
is another circular symbol, you must quickly push up and down to start the
next section.
While you are holding down the stick, Mojibri will fill in
the sentence, removing the clouds.
Now, of course, there is ample room for error in this process, so here's
what can go wrong and what the consequences will be:
- YOU PRESS DOWN LATE, OR NOT AT ALL. Mojibri will fall over the circular
symbol and won't be able to write the section this time.
- YOU PRESS DOWN EARLY. Mojibri will roll over when his pen hits the
ground. He'll get up, but he rolls for just long enough that
you'll usually miss the circle's actual arrival and won't be able to
write the section.
- YOU RELEASE DOWN EARLY. The section will vanish and the area will turn
back to clouds.
- YOU RELEASE DOWN LATE. Mojibri will smudge the final letter of the
section, losing you points. Of course, if releasing down late causes you
to miss the next symbol you'll be penalised that for too.
- YOU DON'T PRESS UP. Mojibri will write the sentence but it will be in
a scratchy and distorted hand. This still counts as having written the
section, but scores less points.
- YOU PRESS UP EARLY. Mojibri will write the sentence but it will be
smudged. This still counts as having written the section, but scores less
points.
In order to actually finish the sentence, you have to write all of it
(ie, there must be no clouds left) and then push UP when over the
triangle symbol. Not pressing UP when over the triangle has no consequences
if the sentence is not finished, nor if Mojibri is writing at the time he
reaches it. But if you have finished the sentence and loop back around to
the shogi piece, Mojibri will fall over if you don't hit up at the right
time.
As in the original Vib Ribbon, Mojibri has several forms. He begins
in his third form. The meter on the left hand side shows how much ink
Mojibri has. Every time you make a mistake, the amount of ink he has
is reduced; when you finish a sentence, the ink remaining is converted
to points score. If Mojibri runs out of ink, he will switch to his
next lowest form (from third to second, and from second to first) and
his ink will be refilled.
This doesn't help your score, though -
Mojibri's form number also acts as a multiplier to his score, so the
lower form you're in, the worse you'll score. If he runs out of ink
while in the lowest form, the game is over, and you'll be offered a
restart menu (circle to restart, X to abandon).
There's a good side, though. When Mojibri writes a section correctly,
birds will appear flying around him. If he writes sections badly, no
birds appear; if he falls, all the birds he has vanish. If he manages
to get a full circle of birds around him, he will move up to his next
form (first to second, second to third). This will enable you to
recover lost forms. If you managed to get a full circle of birds while
in third form, he will move up to his fourth form, "super form". This
form provides the most points. However, if Mojibri falls while in
super form, he will immediately revert to third form regardless of
the amout of ink he has left. The four forms of each character are:
Mojiburi: 1: Tiny and strawberry-shaped.
2: Two spheres on top of each other; like a fat person.
3: Normal form.
4: Radiating lines added around his head.
Mojiko: 1: Tiny little onion-like form.
2: Slightly shorter, resembles a Panda (difficult to tell
from 3; easiest way to tell is that the lines of the
bottom of her dress are missing)
3: Normal form.
4: Has wings.
Osorezan: 1: Flying saucer replaces his feet.
2: Half size and wears an enormous hat.
3: Normal form.
4: Has big jet wings.
Mojibri must finish a certain number of sentences to finish a stage.
Depending on the stage, you may be able to see the later sentences in
the stage as circles of cloud floating above or behind Mojibri. If
you see a "stamp" with two symbols in the air when Mojibri jumps up
to the next sentence, you did well on the previous one; if you see
a stamp and hear a shout, you were near-perfect.
After each stage, you'll get two screens. The first screen shows
how you did on the stage - the total score you got, and an extra
bonus for the form you finished in. After each stage, your score is
added to a total bank; score in the bank can be "spent" for various
features. The second screen will show your overall score being added
to the score bank.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4 - STAGES
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Each stage has a general theme and a title. The stages together also
tell a story. As I haven't been able to translate much yet, here's
a few notes on special things that happen during the stage:
Stage 1: Mojiwakka ishi. ("Understanding Letters Stone")
Stage 2: Shitaku ishi. ("Cleaning Stone")
Stage 3: Unkorasho ishi.
Completing Stage 3 gives you the 1-dan rating.
Stage 4: Tadoritsuki ishi. ("?? Moon Stone")
At the start of this stage, you'll be asked to enter a "shout"
phrase that Mojibri puts at the end of some sentences.
Stage 5: Uzu ishi. ("Swirl Stone")
Stage 6: Rabuguri ishi. ("Love Stone")
At the start of this stage, you'll be asked to enter a romantic
complement for Mojibri to use on Mojiko.
Completing Stage 6 gives you the 2-dan rating and makes Mojiko
playable.
Stage 7: Tobidashi ishi.
Stage 8: Matatabi ishi. ("Wandering Life Stone")
At the start of this stage, you'll be asked to enter a "magic charm"
phrase. You *must* use the Yomikata editor to do this.
Stage 9: Pikapika ishi. ("Sparkly Stone")
Completing stage 9 gives you the 3-dan rating and activates the
text editor for stages 1-9.
Stage 10: Warukichi ishi.
Stage 11: Kaitei ishi. ("Underwater stone")
Stage 12: Kazare ishi.
Completing stage 12 gives you the 4-dat rating and makes Osorezan
playable.
Stage 13: Tachiagashi ishi.
At the start of this stage, you'll be asked to enter a phrase (not
sure what it's used for)
Stage 14: Otenami ishi.
At the start of this stage, you'll be asked to enter a phrase
describing things you like. This will be a line on its own so it
must be fairly long. If you don't enter enough, the game will
give a warning and display a menu: pressing CIRCLE will go back
to editing the text, pressing TRIANGLE will cause the game to
insert its own text.
Stage 15: Getsumen ishi. ("Moon Surface Stone")
Completing stage 15 gives you the 5-dan rating.
Stage 16: Hibiki ishi. ("Sound Stone")
Stage 17: Shiki ishi. ("Four Seasons Stone")
Stage 18: Shinri ishi. ("Truth stone")
Completing stage 18 gives you the 6-dan rating, activates the note
editor for stages 1-9, and enables the extra texts on stages 10-18.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5 - MISC. TRANSLATIONS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
An attempt at translating the "how to play" sequence. "*" in Mojibri's
speech means that's the point at which he reaches the marker symbol.
Announcer:
MOJIB RIBBON wa ANALOGUE STICK Mojib Ribbon is a game played with one
ippon wo tsukate, moji wo kaki analogue stick, of writing characters and
RAPPU de yonde asobu GEEMU desu. reading raps.
Soredewa, sassoku MOJIBURI wo So, let's immediately meet Mojibri and
minagara asobikata wo oboemashou. learn how to play.
Mojibri:
Sonzana iku yo.. Here we go..
Nanimo shinai (falls). Doing nothing (fall)
Nanimo shinai (falls). Doing nothing (fall)
Announcer:
Korekore MOJIBURI. Sumi ga This is Mojibri. You're not supposed to
kobarete mottainai kara majimen spill that ink, so please try harder.
ni yarinasai.
Mojibri:
Koko de * orosu. Here * press down.
Koko de * orosu. Here * press down.
Announcer:
Sousou. Pureiushimon ni mukatte That's right. (?)
pure wo furi(kuda - mono? moro?)
shimasu.
Mojibri:
Koko de * oroshi, hanashide,
Here * press down, talk, and write
moji wo kaku. characters.
Announcer:
Pure wo oroshitamamade, moji When you give the down command, you
wo kakimasu. write characters.
Mojibri:
Koko de * oroshi, hanashide, Here * press down, talk, and write
moji wo kaite, tochuu de age.. characters, all the wa...
(cuts off sentence)
Announcer:
Tochuu de agete shimau to moji ga If you stop in the middle, the
tokireteshinai. Mou ichidou kakina characters disappear. You'll have to
osoku narimasu. write it once more.
Mojibri:
Koko de * oroshi, hanashide, moji
Here * press down, talk, and white
wo kaite, tochuu de agezu ni owari characters, all the way to the end,
de ageru. then release.
Announcer:
Sou desu ne. Shikkari kumono owari
That's right. When you have written all
made moji wo kakitte kara fude wo the way to the end of the clouds, lift
agemashou. Tsugi wa, jyouzu na the pen. The next lession is how to
tanshitsumoji wo kakikata desu. write beautiful characters. Please watch
ANALOGUE STICK no yogoki wo yoku the analogue stick display carefully.
mite kudasai.
Mojibri:
Age * orosu to, tappitsu moji. Up * down means, beautiful characters.
Announcer:
Houhou, ikkan agete taba joozu ni
Nice. You raised it once and wrote well.
kakete. Iki na Kohoubi ga moraeru You'll want to do that, because you get
wake desu ne. a reward.
Mojibri:
Age, hanashide * orosu to, mijini Up, talk * down means, smudged characters.
moji.
Announcer:
Araara, kore wa tsuyosu gite tsugi Hey! Write less strongly next time. That's
no jikai. Heta desu ne. no good, is it?
Mojibri:
Agenai de * orosu to, kasure moji. No up, * down means, scratched characters.
Announcer:
Uun. Korewa yoba subete yomi Ugh. That's really hard to read. That's no
nikui. Chou heta desu ne. good either.
Mojibri:
Kon de * maaka no moji wo zenbu When all the characters in the sentence are
kaitara koko de agete JUMP! written, press up here to JUMP!
[Rest is mostly repetition]
Whenever you win a stage, a cut-scene occurs, as follows:
Mojibri only stage:
"Tatsu Mojibri koko ni ari!"
"The rising star Mojibri is here!"
Mojiko only stage:
"Mojiko-chan CUTE!"
"Mojiko is cute!"
Mojibri and Mojiko:
Mojibri: "Watashi wa COOL!" Mojiko: "Atashi wa kurukuru!"
Mojibri: "I'm Cool!" Mojiko: "I'm Spinning!"
[Japanese Pun: "Spinning" (kurukuru) sounds like "Cool" (kuuru)]
All three: Osorezan: "Muteki!" [Invincible!]
Mojiko: "Suteki!" [Wonderful!]
Mojibri: "Kanpe.." [Sounds like Kanpei "Cheers!"
- corrected to..]
"Kanpeki
!" [Perfect!]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
6 - EDITING
----------------------------------------------------------------------
There are two different editors available in Mojib Ribbon: the text
editor and the note editor. The text editor is unlocked first, and
you can make stages with it on its own; the note editor lets you
customize stages further but is not necessary.
To enter the text editor, select one of the editable texts on a stage
and choose the "Edit Text" option. The text editor is basically the
same as the editor you've been using throughout the game to enter
things for Mojibri to say. The main differences are as follows:
- You MUST use the yomikata editor.
- You can enter Romaji (english characters) by cycling to them with
the circle button. However, when actually read out in the text,
the english text will be turned into their Japanese katakana
equivalents (so if you write "HELLO", Mojibri well say "H, E, L,
L, O")
- As you enter text, the game tries to split it into lines of text for
the characters to say. At any time, you can press SELECT to see
how it's doing. Your text will be displayed
divided into the lines
that the characters will use in the game.
- By pressing the square button you can enter "control mode" where you
can add special symbols to the text. Here you can do the following:
- CUT/COPY/PASTE: Use the digital stick to move the cursor to the
start of the text and then mark it using R1. Once you've done
so you can cancel the marking with R2, or you can use the left
analogue stick menu to pick a command. Pushing RIGHT is Cut,
pushing RIGHT AND DOWN is copy, and pushing LEFT AND DOWN is
Paste (which you don't need marked text for). Press L1 while
pushing the appropriate direction to confirm the command.
- CUSTOM READING. Mark an area of text, then push the left analog
to the left and hit L1. This will allow you to enter a custom
reading/pronunciation for the text displayed. The text will
have a red border around it to indicate this.
- CUE SYMBOLS. With no area marked, use the left analogue as in the
standard text entry mode to enter the symbols for Mojibri,
Mojiko, and Osorezan. Insert these symbols in your text forces
the game to switch to a new line at that point, and also causes the
active character to change appropriately. You will not be allowed
to insert this symbol unless there is a line's worth of text between
it and the previous cue symbol, or if the game otherwise cannot work
out how to divide text between lines (use the SELECT display to see
how it's doing it at the moment)
You cannot place circle symbols in your text in the text editor; the game
will insert them itself based on the text you've entered.
The NOTE editor is a completely different kettle of fish. To access that,
pick a text you've already edited and choose the Note editor option. (The
note editor option isn't shown until it's unlocked.) Note that you should
write your text in the text editor before using the note editor - you can't
change the text in the note editor (well, ok, you can, but it's stupidly
slow). The note editor is used to edit the timing and pitch with which
Mojibri raps.
You will be shown a music-score like display with your phrases written on
it, with the text above. The system tries to work out a default set of
phrases based on the text you entered. You can scroll around with the digital
stick. The bottom line is a continuation of the top line, so when you scroll
the top line right, what will actually happen is that the notes from the left
of the bottom line move up to the right of the top line, and the actual new
notes appear on the bottom of the right line (it's rather confusing first time).
The X button here will undo. Pressing SQUARE will put you into a VERY limited
text editor where you just use the digital stick to scroll between characters
(really, truly, don't bother); SQUARE again gets you out. CIRCLE will insert a
rest (pause) into the current phrase at the cursor point, or will remove a rest
if you push it while on top of one. Note that it's illegal to have two rests
in a row. The SELECT button will play back the current phrase.
To actually edit the notes, press L1 or R1 over the note you want to edit. You
can then press UP or DOWN to change the pitch; X to toggle whether or not a
circle symbol should appear at that point in the phrase; CIRCLE to add or delete
a rest (as in normal mode) and SQUARE to add or delete a break in the phrase at
that point (adding a break will automatically add a circle symbol
). TRIANGLE
will transform the rhythm under the cursor into a triplet, or undo this
transformation if pressed on an existing triplet. It's illegal to have two
circle symbols next to each other. Note also that, although the display
resembles a music score, you cannot actually select all the notes and they don't
really correspond to actual music notes anyway.
When you have finished with either editor, hit START. You'll get the menu:
CIRCLE - Exit and save
X - Don't exit
TRIANGLE - Exit and don't save
If you exit and save, you will make a brief stop in the text editor to edit the
name of your level.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
7 - CONCLUSION
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Fairly short at the moment, but I'll add more as I get to it. Feel
free to send contribution to the address at the top!